JPH08199346A - Arc vaporization source - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an arc vaporization source capable of stably preventing the vaporization of a lumpy cathode substance without changing the parts such as a trigger electrode. CONSTITUTION: This arc vaporization source 40 has a pipe 54 to supply a reactive gas 36 reacting with a substance constituting a cathode 12 to form a compd. to the cathode 12. A blowoff port 56 at the tip of the pipe 54 is arranged close to the cathode 12 and directed to the cathode 12. The reactive gas 36 is supplied from the blowoff port 56 to the region including the front 12a of the cathode 12. A trigger electrode 46 is not used as a gas feed pipe but only acts as a trigger electrode.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a vacuum arc vapor deposition apparatus for depositing a cathode (cathode) substance on a substrate to form a thin film, and a combination of deposition of a cathode substance on a substrate and ion irradiation. The present invention relates to an arc evaporation source that is used for a thin film forming apparatus for forming a thin film by using arc discharge in a cathode to evaporate a cathode substance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A method of forming a thin film on the surface of a base material to which a bias voltage is applied using this type of arc evaporation source is also called an arc ion plating method, and the adhesion of the film Although this method is excellent in productivity and the like, it has a drawback that the surface roughness of the formed film is lower than that of other methods (that is, the film surface has large irregularities and poor smoothness).

This is because in an arc evaporation source, the cathode surface locally becomes hot due to arc discharge, which melts the cathode surface and evaporates the cathode substance. At this time, the cathode material is fine. This is because a large lump of the cathode material is simultaneously evaporated together with the cathode material, and this is attached to the surface of the base material to deteriorate the surface roughness of the film.

An arc type evaporation source capable of solving such a problem is disclosed in JP-A-63-18056.

As shown in FIG. 10, the arc-type evaporation source 10 uses a pipe-shaped trigger electrode 30 and a reactive gas 36 from a gas outlet 32 of the pipe-shaped trigger electrode 30.
Vacuum container 22 which also serves as the cathode 12 and the anode while being supplied to
Arc discharge is generated between the cathode material and the cathode material to vaporize the cathode material. The reactive gas 36 is a gas that reacts with the substance forming the cathode 12 to form a compound.

The trigger electrode 30 is mechanically driven as indicated by an arrow A through the feedthrough 34 when the arc is ignited. The cathode 12 is attached to the flange 16, and an arc power source 24 is connected between the cathode 12 and the vacuum container 22. A shield plate 26 that spreads the arc is provided around the cathode 12. 18 is a magnet, 20 is an insulator, and 28 and 38 are resistors.

When an arc discharge is generated in the cathode 12 while supplying the reactive gas 36 from the gas outlet 32 of the trigger electrode 30 to the front surface 12a of the cathode 12, the reactive gas 36 and the substance forming the cathode 12 are combined. By forming a compound having a high melting point on the front surface 12a of the cathode 12, many cathode points of arc discharge are formed on the front surface 12a of the cathode 12, and the arc current is dispersed to many cathode points. As a result, the cathode material 14 evaporated from the individual cathode spots becomes fine, and large lumps are prevented from being generated.

[0008]

The arc type evaporation source 1 described above.
At 0, since the trigger electrode 30 also serves as the gas supply pipe and the gas outlet 32 at the tip of the trigger electrode 30 is always located in front of the cathode 12, as the arc evaporation source 10 is used, Since the cathode material 14 is attached to the gas outlet 32 and the gas outlet 32 is blocked, and stable supply of the reactive gas 36 to the cathode 12 becomes difficult, it is necessary to frequently replace the trigger electrode 30. There's a problem.

It takes a certain time to replace the trigger electrode 30, and the arc-type evaporation source 10 cannot be used during that time, so that productivity such as thin film formation is lowered. If the trigger electrode 30 with the gas outlet 32 blocked is not replaced, the reactive gas 36 cannot be sufficiently supplied to the front surface 12a of the cathode 12, so that a large mass of the cathode substance 14 is generated. A thin film having good surface roughness (that is, fine film surface and good smoothness) cannot be obtained.

Therefore, the present invention provides an arc-type evaporation source capable of stably preventing evaporation of a large lump of cathode material without requiring replacement of parts such as a trigger electrode. The main purpose.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an arc type evaporation source of the present invention is a gas supply pipe for supplying a reactive gas, which reacts with a substance forming a cathode to form a compound, toward the cathode. The gas outlet is provided in the vicinity of the side of the cathode or the vicinity of the rear of the cathode toward the cathode, and from this gas outlet, the reaction is performed in a region including the front surface of the cathode. A characteristic gas is supplied.

[0012]

According to the above construction, the reactive gas can be supplied from the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe to the region including the front surface of the cathode, whereby many cathode spots of arc discharge are dispersed on the front surface of the cathode. As a result, the large amount of cathode material can be prevented from evaporating. As a result, it is not necessary to form the trigger electrode into a pipe shape and supply the reactive gas from the pipe shape, so that there is no problem that the tip end portion is blocked by the cathode material.

Moreover, since the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe is arranged in the vicinity of the side of the cathode or in the vicinity of the rear of the cathode, avoiding the front of the cathode, the cathode substance evaporated from the front surface of the cathode due to arc discharge is It is unlikely that the gas will adhere to the gas outlet and block it.

Therefore, it is possible to stably prevent the evaporation of a large lump of the cathode material without requiring replacement of the trigger electrode and the gas supply pipe.

[0015]

1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an arc type evaporation source according to the present invention. Portions that are the same as or correspond to those of the conventional example in FIG. 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and in the following, differences from the conventional example will be mainly described.

Unlike the conventional arc-type evaporation source 10, the arc-type evaporation source 40 of this embodiment does not serve as a gas supply pipe and the trigger electrode 46 functions only as the trigger electrode. In addition, a gas supply pipe 54 for supplying the reactive gas 36 as described above toward the cathode 12 is provided. The gas outlet 56 at the tip of the gas supply pipe 54 is arranged near the side of the cathode 12 or near the side of the rear thereof toward the cathode 12. Then, the reactive gas 36 is supplied from the gas outlet 56 to a region including the front surface 12a of the cathode 12.

The cathode 12 is made of the desired material, typically a metal such as titanium (Ti).

The reactive gas 36 may be any compound that reacts with the substance forming the cathode 12 to form a compound, more specifically, a compound having a higher melting point than the cathode substance, such as nitrogen gas or hydrocarbon gas. , Oxygen gas, etc. More specifically, the cathode 12 is titanium and the reactive gas 36 is nitrogen gas. In this case, both are combined to form titanium nitride (Ti
N) is formed.

In this example, the reactive gas 36 is supplied to the gas supply pipe 54 from a gas source (not shown) through a flow rate controller (mass flow controller) 58.

The cathode 12 is attached to a flange 16 made of a nonmagnetic metal in this example, and the flange 16 is attached to a mounting plate 42 via an insulator 20. This mounting plate 42 is also made of non-magnetic metal.

A magnet (more specifically, a permanent magnet) 18 for generating a magnetic field for controlling the state of the arc near the front surface of the cathode 12 is attached to the rear surface of the flange 16.

The mounting plate 42 is mounted on the vacuum container 22 which also functions as an anode, via an insulator 44. The vacuum container 22 is grounded in this example.

A direct current arc power supply 24 is connected between the flange 16 and thus between the cathode 12 and the vacuum container 22, with the cathode 12 side being the negative side.

The trigger electrode 46 is attached to the tip of a shaft 48 that penetrates the attachment plate 42 via a feedthrough 50, and is driven by a drive device 52 in the front-back direction of the cathode 12 as indicated by arrow A. . A resistor 38 for limiting current when the arc is ignited is connected between the shaft 48, and thus between the trigger electrode 46 and the vacuum container 22.

The periphery of the side of the cathode 12 is covered with a ring-shaped shield plate 26 in order to spread the arc, that is, to cause an arc discharge between the cathode 12 and the vacuum container 22 at a distance from the cathode 12. The shield plate 26 is attached to the vacuum container 22 via a support 27 and a resistor 28.
It is connected to the. This shield plate 26 is also made of a nonmagnetic metal in this example.

The gas supply pipe 54 is connected to the mounting plate 42 by a conducting wire 59 so as to have the same potential as the shield plate 26. By doing so, it is possible to prevent abnormal discharge from occurring between the cathode 12 and the gas supply pipe 54. This means that the resistor 28 is interposed between the positive side of the arc power source 24 (that is, the side of the vacuum container 22 also serving as the anode) and the gas supply pipe 54, so that the discharge from the cathode 12 to the gas supply pipe 54 occurs. If it happens, it is blocked by the resistor 28.

In this arc type evaporation source 40, when the trigger electrode 46 is brought into contact with the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 to generate the first spark and then the trigger electrode 46 is separated from the cathode 12, the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 is formed. An arc discharge is generated between the vacuum container 22 which also serves as an anode and is sustained,
Thereby, the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 is melted and the cathode material 14 is evaporated therefrom.

At this time, when the arc discharge is generated in the cathode 12 while supplying the reactive gas 36 from the gas outlet 56 of the gas supply pipe 54 to the region including the front surface 12a of the cathode 12, the reactive gas 36 and the cathode are discharged. A compound having a high melting point is formed on the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 by combining with the substance forming 12 and for such a reason, many cathode points of arc discharge are formed on the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 and a large arc current is generated. Dispersed at the cathode spots of. As a result, the cathode material 14 evaporated from the individual cathode spots becomes fine, and large lumps are prevented from being generated.

As described above, in the arc-type evaporation source 40, unlike the arc-type evaporation source 10 of the conventional example, it is not necessary to form the trigger electrode 46 into a pipe shape and supply the reactive gas from the pipe. The problem that the tip is blocked by the cathode material 14 does not occur.

Moreover, since the gas outlet 56 of the gas supply pipe 54 is arranged in the vicinity of the side of the cathode 12 or in the vicinity of the rear side thereof, avoiding the front of the cathode 12, the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 is arc-discharged. Cathode material 1 evaporating from the
4 adheres to the gas outlet 56 and is attached to the gas outlet 56.
There is little possibility of blocking.

Therefore, it is possible to stably prevent the large amount of the cathode material 14 from evaporating without requiring replacement of the trigger electrode 46 and the gas supply pipe 54.

Further, since the work such as replacement of parts and cleaning of the gas outlet 56 is reduced, the time required for maintenance can be shortened and the number of replacement parts can be reduced.

Further, if such an arc evaporation source 40 is used for forming a thin film, a thin film having a surface roughness as good as that of the conventional arc evaporation source 10 is obtained as a component such as the trigger electrode 46 and the gas supply pipe 54. Since it can be stably formed without the need for replacement, the frequency of stoppages due to replacement of parts can be reduced and the productivity of film formation is improved.

The position of the gas outlet 56 of the gas supply pipe 54 is within the range of 2D laterally from the side surface 12b of the cathode 12 (0 when the diameter of the cathode 12 is D and the length is L).
2) from the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 to the rear.
It is preferable to arrange it within the range of L (including 0 in this case). By doing so, the reactive gas 36 can be efficiently supplied to the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 from a position avoiding the front of the cathode 12, so that the reactive gas 36 from the gas supply pipe 54 is efficiently used. be able to.

The number of gas outlets 56 provided in the gas supply pipe 54 may be one as in the example of FIG. 1 or plural. With a plurality, the reactive gas 36 can be supplied to the front surface 12a of the cathode 12 more uniformly, whereby a large number of cathode spots can be dispersed more uniformly on the cathode surface, and a large mass of the cathode material 14 can be formed. Evaporation can be prevented more reliably.

As in the example shown in FIG. 2, the gas supply pipe 5
4 is provided with a ring-shaped portion 60 surrounding the lateral side of the cathode 12, and a plurality of gas outlets 56 are distributed in the ring-shaped portion 60, more preferably evenly distributed. Good, then the front 12 of the cathode 12
The reactive gas 36 can be more uniformly supplied to a. As a result, it is possible to more uniformly disperse a large number of cathode spots on the surface of the cathode and more reliably prevent evaporation of a large lump of the cathode material 14.

The ring-shaped portion 60 may be attached to the inner peripheral portion of the above-mentioned shield plate 26 by, for example, welding or brazing, as in the example shown in FIG. By doing so, compared with the case where the ring-shaped portion 60 is independently supported from the mounting plate 42, the number of parts is reduced, the structure is simplified, and the assembly is facilitated.

As shown in the example shown in FIG. 1, a flow rate controller 58 is provided in the middle of the gas supply pipe 54 so that the total flow rate of the reactive gas 36 blown out from the gas blowout port 56 of the gas supply pipe 54 is 0. It is preferable to adjust it to be within the range of 01 liter / minute to 1 liter / minute. Reactive gas 3
If the total flow rate of 6 is less than 0.01 liter / minute, the cathode 12
Since the reactive gas 36 cannot be sufficiently supplied to the front surface 12a of the above, the effect of preventing generation of a large amount of the cathode material 14 is weak. If the total flow rate of the reactive gas 36 exceeds 1 liter / minute, the reactive gas 36 becomes excessive and the adverse effect of deteriorating the vacuum degree of the atmosphere becomes large.

When the gas supply pipe 54 is made of a conductor such as metal, the resistor 28 is provided between the gas supply pipe 54 and the vacuum container 22 which also serves as an anode, as in the example shown in FIG.
It is preferable to electrically connect via. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the gas supply pipe 54 from being in an electrically floating state, and due to the reasons described above, abnormal discharge occurs between the cathode 12 and the gas supply pipe 54. It can be prevented from happening. In that case, the conductor 59 itself may have a high resistance, and the point is that the vacuum container 22 also serving as the anode and the gas supply pipe 54 are connected with a resistor interposed therebetween.

The gas supply pipe 54 may be made of an insulator instead of being made of a conductor such as metal. By doing so, there is no possibility that an abnormal discharge will occur between the gas supply pipe 54 and the cathode 12. Therefore, in order to prevent abnormal discharge, the gas supply pipe 54 may be replaced by another wire 59 or the like. There is no need to electrically wire to.

When the magnet 18 is arranged near the back surface of the cathode 12, the gas supply pipe 54 is preferably made of a non-magnetic material. By doing so, the gas supply pipe 54
Since the magnetic field of the magnet 18 is not disturbed even if the magnet is arranged near the cathode 12, the arc can be easily and accurately controlled by the magnetic field.

In addition to providing the gas supply pipe 54 as described above, the side surface of the cathode 12 may be covered with the insulator 62 as in the example shown in FIG. The insulator 62 is cylindrical in this example. By doing so, it is possible to more reliably prevent abnormal discharge from occurring on the side surface of the cathode 12. The insulator 62 may be extended to the front of the front surface 12a of the cathode 12.

FIG. 5 shows the arc type evaporation source 40 shown in FIG.
It is a schematic diagram showing an example of a thin film forming device provided with. A holder 66 that holds a base material 68 is provided in the vacuum container 22 that is evacuated by a vacuum pump (not shown) via a vacuum exhaust port 64, and the base material 6 on the holder 66 is provided.
The arc type evaporation source 40 described above is attached to the side surface of the vacuum container 22 so as to face 8. The vacuum container 22 also serves as the anode as described above.

A negative side of a DC bias power source 72 is connected to the holder 66, whereby a negative bias voltage of, for example, about several hundreds V can be applied to the base material 68 on the holder 66. 70 is an insulator.

A reactive gas 76 is introduced into the vacuum container 22 from a gas source (not shown) via a gas introduction port 74 provided on the wall surface of the vacuum container 22. The reactive gas 76 is of the same type as the reactive gas 36 supplied to the arc evaporation source 40.

When forming the thin film, the inside of the vacuum container 22 is sufficiently evacuated (for example, to the order of 10 ⁻⁵ Torr), and then the reactive gas 7 is introduced into the vacuum container 22 through the gas introduction port 74.
6 is introduced, and the reactive gas 36 is supplied to the arc type evaporation source 40 to maintain the inside of the vacuum container 22 at a predetermined pressure (for example, 10 ^-2 to 10 ^-1 Torr level). In such a state, while applying the negative bias voltage as described above from the bias power source 72 to the base material 68, the arc evaporation source 40 is activated to evaporate the cathode material 14.

Cathode material 1 evaporated by arc discharge
4 is ionized, and this ionized cathode material 14 is attracted and collides with the base material 68 to which a negative bias voltage is applied, and at the same time, the ionized cathode material 14 is combined with the surrounding reactive gas, whereby the base material is A compound thin film is formed on the surface of the material 68. For example, when the cathode 12 is titanium and the reactive gases 36 and 76 are nitrogen gas, a titanium nitride thin film is formed.

The film forming method using such an apparatus is also called the arc type ion plating method as described above, and the ionized cathode material 14 can be accelerated toward the substrate 68 by the bias voltage. A thin film having high adhesion can be formed at a high film forming rate (that is, with good productivity).

Next, a more specific embodiment in which a thin film is formed by using the above thin film forming apparatus will be described.

Titanium (Ti) having a purity of 3N was used for the cathode 12, nitrogen (N ₂ ) gas was used for the reactive gases 36 and 76, and a stainless steel plate as a base material 68 was attached to the holder 66. Then, the inside of the vacuum container 22 is 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Tor.
After sufficiently exhausting to r or less, the flow rate of nitrogen gas introduced into the vacuum container 22 from the gas introduction port 74 is 250 ccm,
The flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied from the gas supply pipe 54 to the vicinity of the cathode 12 is adjusted to 20 ccm, and the variable valve (shown in the figure) provided at the end of the vacuum exhaust port 64 so that the pressure in the vacuum container 22 becomes about 30 mTorr. Omitted). At this time, the gas outlet 56 of the gas supply pipe 54
Was placed 1 cm away from the side surface of the cathode 12, and the flow rate of nitrogen gas blown from the side was adjusted by a flow rate controller 58.

The arc current in the arc evaporation source 40 (that is, the current flowing through the arc power source 24 during arc discharge) is 70 A, and the bias voltage applied to the base material 68 is -2.
Arc discharge was performed at 00 V for 1 hour to form a titanium nitride (TiN) thin film on the surface of a stainless steel flat plate.

Such film formation was performed 10 times using the arc type evaporation source 40 shown in the above embodiment. Also, for comparison, the conventional arc evaporation source 10 shown in FIG. 10 is used instead of the arc evaporation source 40, and film formation is performed 10 times under the same conditions as when the arc evaporation source 40 is used. went.

Optical microscope photographs of the surface of the film thus obtained are shown in FIGS. 6 to 9. Magnification is 400
It is twice.

FIG. 6 shows the surface condition of the film formed at the first time by using the arc type evaporation source 40 of the above embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows the surface state of the film formed at the first time by using the conventional arc type evaporation source 10. The surface condition of the film is shown. The particles in the photograph are called droplets, which are a mass of cathode material. In both cases, the droplets are as small as this. Therefore, even if the arc type evaporation source 40 of the above embodiment is used,
It can be seen that the surface roughness equivalent to that using the conventional arc type evaporation source 10 can be obtained.

FIG. 8 shows the surface condition of the film formed tenth time using the arc type evaporation source 40 of the above embodiment, and FIG.
Shows the surface condition of the film formed tenth time using the conventional arc evaporation source 10. When the arc-type evaporation source 40 of the above-mentioned embodiment is used, the size of the droplet is not much different from that of the first time (FIG. 8), whereas when the conventional arc-type evaporation source 10 is used, the droplet is large. Is much larger than the first time (Fig. 9). From this, it is understood that by using the arc-type evaporation source 40 of the above-mentioned embodiment, a thin film can be formed without deteriorating the surface roughness even if the usage time becomes long. That is, it can be seen that a thin film having a good surface roughness can be stably formed without requiring replacement of parts such as the trigger electrode and the gas supply pipe.

[0056]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the first aspect, since the reactive gas is supplied from the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe to the region including the front surface of the cathode, a large mass of the cathode substance is evaporated. Can be prevented. As a result, it is not necessary to form the trigger electrode into a pipe shape and supply the reactive gas from the pipe shape, so that there is no problem that the tip end portion is clogged with the cathode material. Moreover, since the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe is arranged near the side of the cathode or near the rear of the cathode, avoiding the front of the cathode, the cathode material evaporated from the front surface of the cathode due to arc discharge blows out the gas. It is unlikely that it will stick to the mouth and block it.

Therefore, it is possible to stably prevent the evaporation of a large amount of cathode material without the need to replace the trigger electrode and the gas supply pipe. In addition, the time required for maintenance and the number of replacement parts can be reduced. Furthermore, when such an arc evaporation source is used for thin film formation, a thin film with good surface roughness can be stably formed without requiring replacement of parts such as a trigger electrode and a gas supply pipe. Productivity is improved.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the second aspect, the position of the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe is arranged within the above range, so that the front surface of the cathode is kept away from the front of the cathode. Further, the reactive gas can be efficiently supplied to the gas supply pipe, and thus the reactive gas from the gas supply pipe can be efficiently used.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the third aspect, since the plurality of gas outlets are dispersedly arranged in the ring-shaped portion surrounding the side of the cathode, the reactive gas is more evenly distributed on the front surface of the cathode. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the large amount of the cathode material from evaporating, which is a further effect.

According to the arc type evaporation source of claim 4, since the ring-shaped portion is attached to the inner peripheral portion of the shield plate, the number of parts is reduced, the structure is simplified, and the assembly is facilitated. There is a further effect.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the fifth aspect, a flow rate controller for adjusting the total flow rate of the reactive gas blown out from the gas blowout port within the range of 0.01 liter / minute to 1 liter / minute is provided. Therefore, there is a further effect that it is possible to effectively prevent evaporation of a large amount of the cathode material without deteriorating the vacuum degree of the atmosphere.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the sixth aspect, the gas supply pipe made of a conductor and the anode are electrically connected via a resistor, so that the gas supply pipe floats electrically. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of the state and prevent the abnormal discharge from occurring between the cathode and the gas supply pipe.

According to the arc type evaporation source of claim 7, since the gas supply pipe is made of an insulating material, there is no possibility that an abnormal discharge will occur between the gas supply pipe and the cathode. Further, it is not necessary to electrically connect the gas supply pipe to another one, which is a further effect.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the eighth aspect, since the gas supply pipe is made of a non-magnetic material, even if the gas supply pipe is arranged in the vicinity of the cathode, the magnet arranged in the vicinity of the back surface of the cathode It has the further effect of not disturbing the magnetic field.

According to the arc type evaporation source of the ninth aspect, since the side surface of the cathode is covered with the insulator, it is possible to more reliably prevent abnormal discharge from occurring on the side surface of the cathode. It produces a further effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of an arc evaporation source according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example where a gas supply pipe is provided with a ring-shaped portion.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of another example of the arc evaporation source according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of still another example of the arc evaporation source according to the present invention.

5 is a schematic view showing an example of a thin film forming apparatus including the arc evaporation source shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an optical micrograph of the surface of the film formed for the first time using the arc evaporation source according to the example, with a magnification of 40.
It is 0 times.

FIG. 7 is an optical micrograph of the film surface formed at the first time using the arc-type evaporation source of the conventional example, and the magnification is 400 times.

FIG. 8 is an optical micrograph of a film surface formed tenth time using the arc evaporation source according to the example, with a magnification of 4
It is 00 times.

FIG. 9 is an optical micrograph of a film surface formed 10th time using an arc evaporation source of a conventional example, with a magnification of 400.
It is twice.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional arc evaporation source.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Cathode 14 Cathode Material 18 Magnet 22 Vacuum Container (Anode) 24 Arc Power Supply 26 Shield Plate 36 Reactive Gas 40 Arc Type Evaporation Source 46 Trigger Electrode 54 Gas Supply Pipe 56 Gas Outlet 58 Flow Controller 60 Ring-shaped Part 62 Insulator

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Takaya Ishii 47 Umezu Takaune-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City, Nissin Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koji Okamoto 47 Umezu Takaune-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yo Doi 47 Umezu Takaunecho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture Nissin Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An arc evaporation source for evaporating a cathode substance by utilizing arc discharge in the cathode, wherein a gas supply pipe for supplying a reactive gas, which reacts with a substance constituting the cathode to form a compound, toward the cathode. The gas outlet is provided in the vicinity of the side of the cathode or the vicinity of the rear of the cathode toward the cathode, and from this gas outlet, the reaction is performed in a region including the front surface of the cathode. An arc-type evaporation source characterized by supplying a reactive gas. 2. When the diameter of the cathode is D and the length is L, the position of the gas outlet of the gas supply pipe is within a range of 2D laterally from the side surface of the cathode and backward from the front surface of the cathode. The arc-type evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the arc-type evaporation source is arranged within a range of 2L. 3. The gas supply pipe has a ring-shaped portion surrounding a side of the cathode, and a plurality of the gas outlets are dispersedly arranged in the ring-shaped portion.
Alternatively, the arc evaporation source described in 2. 4. The arc-type evaporation source according to claim 3, wherein the ring-shaped portion of the gas supply pipe is attached to an inner peripheral portion of a shield plate which covers a side periphery of the cathode. 5. The flow rate controller for controlling the total flow rate of the reactive gas blown out from the gas blowout port of the gas supply pipe within the range of 0.01 liter / min to 1 liter / min. The arc-type evaporation source described in 2, 3 or 4. 6. The gas supply pipe is made of a conductor and is electrically connected to the anode of the arc evaporation source via a resistor. Arc type evaporation source. 7. The arc-type evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein the gas supply pipe is made of an insulating material. 8. The arc evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein a magnet is arranged near the back surface of the cathode, and the gas supply pipe is made of a non-magnetic material. 9. The arc evaporation source according to claim 1, wherein a side surface of the cathode is covered with an insulator.